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Female Sergeant Major Claims Gender Discrimination

By James Dao May 22, 2012 7:33 pmMay 22, 2012 7:33 pm

A retired command sergeant major has come forward to say that she was the victim of gender discrimination by her superiors while she was commandant of the 3rd Infantry Division’s academy for noncommissioned officers at Fort Stewart, Ga., in 2006.

The assertion by Mittie A. Smith, who has since retired, echo the complaints of Command Sgt. Maj. Teresa L. King, who was suspended as commandant of the Army’s drill sergeant school at Fort Jackson last November and investigated for complaints ranging from abuse of authority to undermining morale. She was cleared this month after the Army could not substantiate those complaints.

Sergeant Major King was reinstated as commandant, only to be replaced last Thursday when her tour of duty officially ended. She had asked to remain in the job for an additional six months, but the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, which oversees the school, refused.

Like Sergeant Major King, Ms. Smith contends that her direct supervisor, Command Sgt. Maj. John Calpena, undermined her authority with other soldiers by questioning how a woman who was not in the infantry and had not served in a combat zone could supervise the training of infantry noncommissioned officers during wartime.

She was suspended, investigated for poor leadership and cut off from her soldiers and staff. She was eventually cleared of all wrongdoing, she says, but not reinstated as commandant. She finished her career as the command sergeant major of an Army installation in Massachusetts, and then retired from the Army, still angry about how she had been treated.

“I had been in the Army 24 years,” Ms. Smith, who now lives in Georgia, said in an interview. “Never had anyone attacked me that way. That was very painful for me.”

Sergeant Major Calpena was also the supervisor of Sergeant Major King. She contends he led the effort to have her removed after complaining to other soldiers that she was rigidly doctrinaire and questioning how a woman without experience in a combat zone could oversee training of drill sergeants.

Ms. Smith’s assertions are being incorporated by Sergeant Major King’s lawyers into an Article 138 complaint against Sergeant Major Calpena and his former boss, Maj. Gen. Richard Longo. That complaint is now before the Army inspector general’s office.

General Longo, who is now in Afghanistan, and Sergeant Major Calpena have declined to comment, citing the pending legal complaint.

Sergeant Major King’s lawyer, James E. Smith, Jr., a member of the South Carolina legislature and National Guard, said they are hoping that the Army will open an investigation of General Longo and Sergeant Major Calpena that could lead to disciplinary action against both men.

The cases of the two women seems to touch on a thorny problem likely to confront other high-ranking woman without combat experience: whether they can command respect from male soldiers who have served in front-line combat units.

Women by law are not allowed to serve in front-line combat units like the infantry, though many have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in support units that have found themselves in combat situations. More than 140 American female service members have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, mostly due to enemy actions.

Though neither Sergeant Major King or Ms. Smith could have served in the infantry, their detractors argue that they should at least have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and tasted the experience of a war zone before taking over their respective training programs.

But both women argue that as sergeant majors with support units, they almost certainly would have spent the vast majority of their deployments behind walls at relatively secure operating bases. Instead, they spent those years training soldiers, which, they assert, was perfect experience for running the N.C.O. academy and the drill sergeant school.

Mr. Smith said he has yet to receive any communication from the Army inspector general’s office acknowledging that it is pursuing Sergeant Major King’s complaint. He said he is considering asking the White House inspector general to take over the investigation, but is not sure if they have the authority.

Sergeant Major King, 50, bid farewell to her instructors and staff at the drill sergeant school last week, acknowledging the bitterness of the last six months while also calling the Army “a great place to serve.” She has served nearly 32 years in the Army.

She is now pushing to remain in service beyond her mandatory retirement date, which is in August.

“She needs time to transition to civilian life,” Mr. Smith said. “She lost six months. She should be on the victory tour of her career. But instead she’s had her name smeared all over the place.”

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